BlueZ

BlueZ is an implementation of the Bluetooth standard. This entry features the BlueZ package and all software that is based on it.

Setup

On most Linux distributions BlueZ can be installed with the bluez package. Additionally, the bluez-utils package needs to be installed. To load the kernel module modprobe btusb needs to be run. Afterward, the service can be started and enabled by running the following commands.

systemctl start bluetooth.service
systemctl enable bluetooth.service

Usage

This section addresses the usage of Bluez.

Connecting and Pairing of Devices

The Bluetooth features can be managed by different types of front-ends.

bluetoothctl is a command-line interface included in the bluez-utils package
bluetuith can be used as a bluetooth manager with a terminal user interface. It is included in a package of the same name, that needs to be installed before usage. Using bluetuith the Bluetooth can be turned on (or off) by pressing o, devices can be searched for by pressing s, a selected device can be paired by pressing p and finally connected by pressing c before bluetuith can be left with Q.

Troubleshooting

This section will focus on errors and the fixing of errors of Bluez.

`bluetuith: no adapter found` or `bluetoothctl: No default controller available`

When this error occurs the adapter is not recognized by the software. This can be confirmed using the following command and looking for the bluetooth adapter.

lsusb

If it is indeed not found it may be blocked by rfkill. To check this run the following command.

rfkill

This command will display something similar to the following.

0: hci0: Bluetooth
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no

If the command displays Soft blocked: yes or Hard blocked: yes beneath the Bluetooth device it has to be unblocked to use it. For this run the following command where <bluetooth-adapter> is the name of the Bluetooth adapter (in this case it would be hci0).

rfkill unblock <bluetooth-adapter>

Afterward, the adapter will probably be recognized again but a restart of service bluetooth.service eventually has to be restarted as described in the systemd entry.

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